Advice on changing our retail developer

JMC1969 · Jul 16, 2009

Martin Reed,

Thank you for the comment. Sprint is actually closer to us than Clayton is, yet shipping arrangements seem to be less of an issue with Clayton. It seems odd to be this way, but Sprint seems to only have access to 2 freight carriers because of their location. That doesn't give them much of a bargaining chip to get their product to us. Clayton seems to preform well and overall a better price for us. This means a better price for all that come to us.

JMC1969 · Jul 16, 2009

Almost forgot

Also for your consideration.

Mini Speed Graphic
6x9 roll back
Ektar 101mm f4.5
Efke 25
Clayton 1+5 replenished 70° @ 5mins

wogster · Jul 16, 2009

jerk151 said:
Martin Reed,

Thank you for the comment. Sprint is actually closer to us than Clayton is, yet shipping arrangements seem to be less of an issue with Clayton. It seems odd to be this way, but Sprint seems to only have access to 2 freight carriers because of their location. That doesn't give them much of a bargaining chip to get their product to us. Clayton seems to preform well and overall a better price for us. This means a better price for all that come to us.

Other options, first a lot of retail operations think that all product needs to come into the store, it doesn't. If Jacksonville High wants 25 jugs of developer, then you order that from Sprint or Clayton, have it shipped straight from supplier to the school, This saves big on shipping. Some companies are even willing to put your name on the bill of lading, with their address as a return address. You can always try to work out your own carrier deal, best of you ship a lot of stuff in a small geographic area. Sometimes you can get a better deal from Joe's delivery service then from UPS or FedEx.

Photo Engineer · Jul 16, 2009

In my experience, The Photographers Formulary has some pretty good chemistry as well. Many of them come in both powder and liquid kits (albeit with different names), and are work alikes for Kodah products.

They do ship products to some schools across the US IIRC. It wouldn't hurt to give them a call.

I might add that the Clayton experiment above does not compute to me! The 1:9 looks more dense than the 1:5. That is the reverse of what I would expect to see in most cases.

I have been rather disappointed with the Clayton fix. I cannot comment on the developers other than the seeming "artifact" noted above.

PE

GJA · Jul 16, 2009

I would stock Formulary and Kodak chems and if you think you need more variety, then Ilford as well. In regards to film and paper, i think your current list looked good.

The Sprint shipping is pure ridiculousness. I dont blame you for not putting up with it. But i was thinking, could you not have them ship all that you need for all schools and your store on a single order to one of the schools and then take a truck or a van there and collect the remainder to distribute. That way you would save on shipping for both the orders you place for the schools and could get a bit of chemistry for your retail store.

JMC1969 · Jul 16, 2009

Photo Engineer said:
I might add that the Clayton experiment above does not compute to me! The 1:9 looks more dense than the 1:5. That is the reverse of what I would expect to see in most cases.

I have been rather disappointed with the Clayton fix. I cannot comment on the developers other than the seeming "artifact" noted above.

PE

It does seem confusing at first, but what you see above is the positive. Therefore the Clayton 1+9 negative is under processed resulting in a denser positive image. As well, the 1+5 mix is a replenished value, so it is really neither 1+5 nor 1+9 but rather somewhere in between. The sink line is not a dump, you dip and then pour the 1+5 replenish on top of the 2/3 remaining in the tank (which is a bit spent but not completely or it would not work correctly). So 1+5 on top of a diluted/used 1+5 = ? 1+7? 1+8? hard to tell, but it seems consistent. as the Ekfe25 I posted was run after the test as well as a few more customer runs.

Photo Engineer · Jul 16, 2009

Yes, my error. Thanks for the correction on that. My only excuse is that I had just eaten dinner and all of the blood had rushed to my stomach. Sorry about that.

I suggest you look elsewhere on APUG for posts on the developers offered by these companies, and also the cost and shipping. Then choose based on what you feel looks right.

PE

JMC1969 · Jul 16, 2009

GJA said:
could you not have them ship all that you need for all schools and your store on a single order to one of the schools and then take a truck or a van there and collect the remainder to distribute. That way you would save on shipping for both the orders you place for the schools and could get a bit of chemistry for your retail store.

Unfortunately, schools don't pay up front nor at time of delivery but rather 30-60 days after delivery. This would take a whole lot more "out of pocket" money than we are capable of. We are at the seat of our pants as it is. As well, it is a pretty unpredictable when it leaves the shelf. Not a single bottle sold in two months, then all the fix sold in one week. We had to reorder just fix, then the other chemicals sell and all you have is fix. This is just the way it goes for us. Paying as much to ship a case of chemicals as we pay for the case just isn't going to work for us and right now that is the way things were going. So far I am happy with the results from Clayton and we may turn that corner.

wogster · Jul 16, 2009

jerk151 said:
Unfortunately, schools don't pay up front nor at time of delivery but rather 30-60 days after delivery. This would take a whole lot more "out of pocket" money than we are capable of. We are at the seat of our pants as it is. As well, it is a pretty unpredictable when it leaves the shelf. Not a single bottle sold in two months, then all the fix sold in one week. We had to reorder just fix, then the other chemicals sell and all you have is fix. This is just the way it goes for us. Paying as much to ship a case of chemicals as we pay for the case just isn't going to work for us and right now that is the way things were going. So far I am happy with the results from Clayton and we may turn that corner.

Actually it means you end up having less money tied up. See, what happens is, your using your suppliers warehouse for free to keep inventory that you do not need to pay for. When someone wants more then a few bottles, say a school wants a whole case, you order it from the supplier shipped direct. When it ships they email or fax a confirmation, and you send the invoice. Best is to talk to your customers, in many cases they don't mind if you email or fax invoices, which saves on postage and gets it there much faster. The faster you can get the invoice to payables the faster it gets into the cycle for payment. I could say more, PM me for details.

Advice on changing our retail developer

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